


A Worthy Gift

by Jade, jade-1459 (Jade)



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Community: comment_fic, Disturbing Themes, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-06-14
Updated: 2011-06-14
Packaged: 2017-10-20 10:18:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 666
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/211729
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jade/pseuds/Jade, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jade/pseuds/jade-1459
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><i>Trading gifts as a welcoming ceremony never got old</i></p>
            </blockquote>





	A Worthy Gift

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Scarlet_Gryphon](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Scarlet_Gryphon/gifts).



_Trading gifts as a welcoming ceremony never got old_ , Lorne remembered thinking before they had gone through the Stargate.

It had become something of a competition on Atlantis between teams really. Every first contact mission the scheduled team was sent out with a few basic gifts, items that might be highly sought after by the population they were about to meet. Medicines mostly, but there had been one tribe of nomads that had desired literature above everything else.

And then there would be an unofficial committee who would assess the value of the gift they had received in return. A group of individuals in the city who didn’t belong to any gate team would evaluate the item or items they returned with. It made the judges impartial.

Lorne’s team was ahead of Mendoza’s in points, though they were still in a very close second to Sheppard’s team. It was kind of hard to top a gift of sex pollen. But Parish had gotten them a giant plant seed that could literally grow whatever they desired – unfortunately the first person to hand the seed bare handed had been thinking about money. And now they had a tree in one of the court yards that fruited fifty and hundred dollar bills.

This time, Lorne was pretty sure that they were going to take the lead in the pointing system.

Sitting on the infirmary bed, Lorne made soft soothing sounds while Keller advanced on them with a needle and a lollipop.

“This will only pinch for a second,” she was saying, offering the candy first before claiming the little girl’s arm. The candy drew the kid’s attention long enough for Keller to get the needle into her arm, but it didn’t keep her attention long after that.

Wrapping his arms around the kid, Lorne held the little girl still while Keller got the blood she wanted. “It’s okay, sweetie,” Keller murmured. “Nearly done.”

Sheppard walked in as Keller disappeared with the blood and her scans. Lorne looked up to see him leaning against the door jamb watching him try to comfort the child he’d come home with.

“Dare I ask if she’s yours?” the other man asked.

Lorne sighed and stood up with the little girl. They’d been told she was six seasons, but looking at her, Lorne guessed she couldn’t have been more than four years old. She had the lollipop in her mouth, head tucked under his chin, clutching at his shirt.

“She is now, apparently,” Lorne explained. He started swaying a little where he stood, rubbing slow circles into her back. “The welcoming gift ceremony kind of backfired on us. The Gurdeans place a very high value on human lives. And the only gift worth giving in their culture is another person.”

Lorne watched as his commanding officer stood up and took a very serious stance. Shoulders squared, head tilted just a little to the left, lips slightly pursed, a tightening of the skin around his eyes. Lorne had learned to read his commanders body language. It was the first language he’d learned when he had arrived in the city and realized that the difference between knowing the plan and getting caught in the cross fire could be the difference of a twitch eyelash.

And Sheppard’s body language was telling him everything Sheppard was going to say before he even said it. So when he opened his mouth and said, “Lorne...” Lorne cut him off.

“I can’t give her back,” Lorne stated with finality. “If the gift is deemed unworthy... If we give her back they’ll see her as defective.”

Silence filled the infirmary. Sheppard was tense and closed off as he watched the little girl in Lorne’s arms. It was hitting the other man the same way the news had hit him when they had been handed the little girl while they were getting ready to head back to Atlantis.

“They’ll kill her,” he said softly, face still an unreadable mask.

Lorne could only nod.


End file.
